Four Walls
by guineabees
Summary: Due to the discovery of supernatural abilities, Tweek has spent the majority of his teenage years feeling like a prisoner in his own home. However, his life's about to change dramatically when he finds out he's not as alone as he thought.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note** : I just wanted to point out that I'm from South Wales so I mainly use UK English, but I did try to use US English for some words that are more frequently used (it felt so weird writing 'mom' instead of 'mum' I'm not going to lie). I forgot when I was writing this that they have mailboxes outside instead of letter boxes on doors in South Park because those aren't common in the UK, but I kind of needed to write it with door letter boxes for one of the elements of this fic to work so I kept it.

Also I'm very used to writing essays so I'm not exactly out of practice, but it's been years since my last finished fictional piece of work so I have to get used to this and find my writing style again. I feel good about how this chapter turned out though considering. I have a lot of ideas and started fics in the works, but I decided to make this one my return to fanfiction writing because I really enjoyed writing it.

The kid's current ages in this fic are seventeen, but in this chapter a couple of other ages are mentioned because of flashbacks.

* * *

A small groan came from within the mound of blankets on the floor as Tweek's alarm clock roared to life that morning.

His unruly hair was the first thing to spring into view from beneath the sanctuary of duvets as he slowly shifted into a sitting position, letting them fall around him as he stretched out his arms and felt the popping and cracking of his joints accompanying the movement.

On the rare occasion that his parents were still home when he woke up, they would always question why he slept on the floor when he had a perfectly good bed that was also probably a lot better for his back. His response was that the floor was warmer than the bed. This was true since it was closer to the side of the room his radiator was on, but a bigger part of it was that he didn't have to worry about what may or may not be lurking in the small, dark space underneath him when he slept on the floor.

He gathered up the blankets and threw them on the bed, with the exception of an old, worn blanket from his childhood that he kept mostly for comfort. He kept it wrapped around his shoulders as he shuffled towards his desk. He found his tasks for the day scrawled messily across a few of the infinite post it notes that lined his shelves.

Being someone who forgot things quite easily and panicked at the thought of the possible consequences of losing important information, Tweek liked to leave as many visual reminders for himself as possible. The post-it notes were colour coded depending on their importance and ranged from chores watering the plants to important phone calls and emails he'd received for his parents while they were at work to ideas he'd had for song lyrics that he was afraid he would forget. He placed today's notes on the desk next to his computer, knowing that would be his first and possibly only stop for the day once he'd finished his morning routine.

Going about this routine had become almost automatic in the past four years, only interrupted in the event that a sudden noise from outside made him jump. Although there was one part of every morning that he dreaded and it always arrived sooner than he was comfortable with. The moment he had to open the door and collect the newspaper from outside. It seemed like a trivial thing to stress over, but for someone who hadn't left his house very often since he was thirteen and didn't want to be spotted and have to face an onslaught of questions, it was more than a bit challenging.

He sat with his ear pressed to the front door, waiting for the tell-tale sound of footsteps approaching and then fading into the distance again. Only when he was completely sure no one was out there did he take a deep breath and count to ten before quickly reaching up to pull the handle and edge his front door open. As soon as the newspaper came into view he sprinted across to snatch it from the outside world as quickly as possible before dashing back into the safety of his house and slamming the door shut again. He clutched the paper to his chest, creasing it a little with the force of his grasp and willed his heartbeat to slow down at least a little, only moving from the spot once he'd regained a shred of control over his erratic breathing.

A short while later, as he held a steaming mug of coffee in his slightly shaky grasp, Tweek wondered how his life had gotten to this point. He remembered a time when he could go outside and be surrounded by other people and his only worries would be the ones related to awkward social situations, everyday dangers like kidnappers, the potential of being trampled in a big crowd or something of the supernatural variety somehow putting his life at risk, which had all been pretty legitimate fears considering his past. Maybe he did have a lot of concerns back then too and maybe what actually happened was more science-fiction than the horror-like situations he used to worry about, but the point still stood.

* * *

It was when Tweek was about eleven that he started to notice things changing.

As a fairly paranoid and overly caffeinated kid, his therapist had advised him to deal with his moments of panic and stress by meditating and "finding his centre". When he was younger, this had been extremely valuable advice for him and he had created a whole different world to escape to when the real one became too much and he needed to relax. It was just him and nature in this world, for a short time he could relax in a place that looked like it belonged in a painting and hear nothing but the peaceful sounds of the stream nearby and wildlife in the distance. It was the perfect escape for a few years, that is until other people started showing up there.

It started off slowly. Once in a blue moon a confused citizen of his hometown would wander into his subconscious, ask him a bunch of questions about where they were and how they got there and then disappear again. Tweek always told them it was a dream, partly because he thought maybe they were actually figments of his imagination and partly because he didn't want them approaching him in the real world if they were real.

Then things started to get weirder, people were showing up more and more often, questions were replaced with confessions and troubling thoughts as they assumed that Tweek was their conscience or some sort of spiritual guide. He tried to help as much as he could, hoping that they wouldn't come back if he did. Soon after, he started being dragged unwillingly into other people's dreams, daydreams and memories at completely random times and without much warning other than a strange sensation tugging at the edge of his subconscious.

People didn't seem to realise he was there when it was their subconscious he was visiting, but he still found it uncomfortable. It was almost like he was reading someone's diary when he saw their dreams and memories and it often revealed truths about people that he never wanted to know. It felt wrong. It felt like an invasion of privacy and he wished he knew how to stop it, he wished it could have ended there.

However, during one eventful shift at his parents' coffee shop when he was thirteen, he soon discovered that he was hearing thoughts that definitely didn't belong to him. Other people's thoughts were invading his brain and he wasn't even in a state of sleep or meditation, he was entirely conscious and reading the minds of strangers. He could never have anything even close to a normal life after that.

Along with his abnormal abilities also came the ever-present fear of what would happen if anyone found out he was different. When he wasn't watching someone else's dream play out or talking to yet another intruder in his own dreams, he was having recurring nightmares of being stolen away from his town, his family and everything he'd ever known and being experimented on like some kind of science project. He'd seen the movies and tv shows, he knew how things would go down if anyone found out he could do things like this.

He tried to carry on fooling himself and everyone else into thinking nothing had changed by continuing to attend school, work at the coffee shop and regularly go out in public. It was almost impossible to appear normal though, especially when he knew answers before the teacher had even asked the questions, knew people's orders before they had even entered the coffee shop and constantly had to stop himself from responding to things his friends hadn't said out loud. He also found himself experiencing headaches from the chorus of voices in his head that came with being in close proximity to large numbers of people. It was beginning to get more than a little overwhelming and something was bound to give.

One night, when he was sick and tired of hearing his dad's inner monologue about coffee and his mother's concerned thoughts about having not seen him with any friends in a while, he finally snapped. He had slammed his hands on the dinner table, breaking the tense silence that had built up with a cry of "WOULD YOU JUST STOP THINKING FOR FIVE MINUTES?!"

He'd probably remember the looks of sheer concern and bewilderment on his parents faces for the rest of his life, but it was like a dam had been broken and there was no stopping the words that poured out.

"Dad, I'm so sick of hearing nothing but coffee talk 24/7! If I'm not working around coffee, I'm hearing you think about it! Not only do I have to try and focus with all these strangers voices floating around in my head but I also have you thinking about different blends as a background track! I-I don't even know anymore if I actually like coffee or if I've just become brainwashed into liking it by you!" Part of him felt guilty when he heard his dad gasp and saw the hurt look that flooded his features, but he couldn't have stopped then even if he wanted to. "And mom, the reason why you haven't seen any of my friends lately is because they're going to find out how much of a freak I am if I talk to them! Who is possibly going to want to stick around when they realise how weird I am anyway?! I can hear people's thoughts mom! Who the hell is going to accept that?!"

His chest shook with harsh breaths as he finally began to calm down from his rant. He slumped back into his chair and placed his head in his hands. It was finally out there. He'd spent all of that time and effort keeping this huge part of him secret and now it had all been spilled in a matter of seconds. A panic began to settle in as he came to his senses and realised what he'd just done.

He didn't know if he could trust his parents not to react badly and send him away for this, it wouldn't be the first time they'd done something that extreme. If he'd just told them what he could do at least there was a chance they would have brushed it off as his usual paranoid behaviour, but he'd actually said what he could hear them thinking, he'd given them proof. On top of that he'd been way too harsh with them, they were only doing what they normally do and he'd yelled at them for it. What if they hated him after this?

He slowly and shakily looked up, taking in their surprised and hurt expressions. "AH! Oh Jesus! I'm so sorr-"

"Don't." His dad had stopped him. He sank in his chair a little at the abrupt tone thinking this was surely it, they must want him gone now. "Don't you dare apologise, son."

He blinked a couple of times, confusion taking hold. He wanted to ask what was going on, whether they were mad at him or not, but his voice just didn't seem to co-operate. He had looked from one parent's face to the other, trying desperately to decipher their expressions and wondering why now of all times his ability wasn't revealing anything to him. When he'd just about given up and felt just about ready to cry and beg them not to send him away, his mom reached across the table, placing her hand delicately over his and directing a reassuring smile his way.

"You're a very special boy Tweek and we're so proud of you. After all, how many parents can say that their child is psychic?" She questioned, his dad smiling and nodding in agreement.

Tweek sat in a stunned silence. He knew his parents were a bit on the eccentric side, but he just told them he could read minds and they were acting the same way they did back when they heard those false rumours about him and Craig Tucker being boyfriends.

"I thought you were just becoming a socially awkward loner," his dad confessed, "but to think you've been dealing with so much this whole time..."

Tweek fought the urge to bang his head against the table at his dad's statement. He guessed he probably should have expected that his parents would react as if it were good news that he was practically a mutant. Although even now he had trouble believing that there wasn't a catch coming, that this wasn't just a trick to put him at ease before they frantically called authorities once he left the room. Thankfully though, his abilities chose that moment to start working again.

When his father's gleeful exclamation of 'This is almost better than the time we found out he was gay!' entered his thoughts he wasn't sure whether to feel relieved or irritated, but he decided that this had probably been the best reaction he could hope for.

"You're... really ok with this?" He questioned, still not one hundred percent believing that this was real and he wasn't just daydreaming about possible scenarios.

"Of course we are!" Mrs. Tweak responded without a moment's hesitation. "In fact," she added, "we probably should have seen this coming considering the family history."

"T-the family history?" Tweek inquired.

"You see son..." his dad began and Tweek cringed as he recognised the pre-monologue voice, the kind of tone that was usually reserved for a thirty minute long, mind numbing speech about locally grown organic ingredients. continued, ignoring his son's reaction, "...your mother and I both come from very spiritual families. Your grandmother on my side could talk to ghosts and your mother's grandfather used to have visions, didn't he honey?"

"Yes, that's true!" Tweek's mom beamed as if talking about a fond memory, "he used it to do work as a fortune teller sometimes and he once solved one of the biggest murder cases to hit Colorado."

Tweek felt an icy chill creep up his spine. The knowledge that other people in his family had abilities like this made this whole thing too real. He couldn't just chalk it up to his imagination running wild or his general lack of sleep messing with his head anymore. This was actually real, he was actually some kind of psychic. He wasn't quite sure if he was relieved or if this made things worse.

"Things like this have been in our family for centuries," his dad explained, ignorant to his son's turmoil, "but less and less of us have been experiencing these gifts over the years so we were almost certain they had died out. We never would have thought our own son would turn out to be this special."

Tweek thought of this as more of an extreme inconvenience or a curse than a gift, but he wasn't about to rain on his parents' parade by pointing that out. They seemed genuinely, unnervingly ecstatic about this whole situation.

His mom hummed in agreement with his father's words. "We're so proud of you Tweek," she stated warmly, squeezing his hand before releasing it and returning to her dinner. Just like that the atmosphere around the table had returned to normal again.

Tweek's mind was still racing though. While he was deeply relieved his parents had taken this well, he couldn't help but feel frustrated. Sometimes he felt like his parents only really cared about him or told him they were proud of him when they found out he was 'special' in some way. He wondered how things would have gone if he had been completely normal and was actually just having the usual anxiety related issues. They probably wouldn't have cared that much in all honesty. He caught his mom worrying about him every now and then, but they were both usually pretty dismissive of his worries when they weren't related to something unique like this.

His thoughts were interrupted when his dad suddenly spoke up again. "So tell me Tweek, what do our customers really think of our coffee?" he asked. Then the endless musings of which flavours would work well together and poetic descriptions of different beverages resumed.

Tweek pressed his free hand to his face in exasperation, wishing he knew how to block out thoughts he didn't want to hear. "Oh god," he groaned. He didn't know whether this was better or worse than being kicked out to be completely honest.

* * *

In the years following, Tweek found it increasingly difficult to continue as usual.

He was struggling to stop his abilities from affecting him in public and his parents, who were all too happy to have a psychic in the family at first, began to worry that the family business would lose customers. Sometimes he unintentionally creeped people out by accidentally responding when reading their mind or suddenly going completely still when he got glances into someone's subconscious from accidentally brushing against their hand when taking their money. He was beginning to build up a bit of a reputation for being weird and possibly deranged.

It was too risky for him to be around large groups of people for long periods of time, he would get overwhelmed very quickly and sometimes when he blurted out things that he shouldn't know it scared people into lashing out at him. He had come home with cuts and bruises several times from getting into fights with people at school. He had also broke down in tears the second the front door clicked behind him on more than one occasion when strangers in town had reacted badly to him warning them about something.

After several outbursts and altercations both in school and at the coffee shop, his parents had finally decided to take drastic measures and remove him from the outside world as much as possible. They removed him from school and found someone else to work his shifts so he wouldn't have to be around other people as much. They still treated him as if his abilities were great and somehow made him special, but he often caught them thinking the opposite. Tweek knew that this whole thing was turning out to be a huge burden on them at times though so he never called them out on it.

The only time he really left the house was when he was sent out on an errand like shopping or picking up deliveries for his parents when they got too busy to do it themselves. When those occasions arose he tended to rely on blasting music through noise cancelling headphones to drown out people's thoughts and distract him from their stares.

Now here he was, seventeen years old and feeling a bit like a prisoner in his own house as he stood alone in the complete silence of the empty kitchen, staring down at the scaldingly hot cup of coffee in his hands. He knew his parents wanted to keep him and their livelihood safe, but he was starting to wonder if it was even worth being safe if this was the kind of life he had to live. The majority of the town probably thought he was dead or locked away in his basement or something and the few that didn't were scared of him like he was the town witch from an urban legend.

There were actually some aspects of going to work and school that he missed. He didn't miss being around so many people and he didn't miss all of the pressure and responsibilities. What he did miss though was the feeling of being productive at work, the sense of structure that going to school gave him and the few people that made the world feel a little less overwhelming. He also really missed learning, he had hoped his parents would give him some kind of home schooling, but it seemed that they didn't think it was that important since they always had the family business for him to return to anyway if he ever figured out a way to stop using his powers. He tried to study as much as he could about the subjects that interested him online and he still practiced music everyday, but it wasn't the same when he knew it couldn't lead to anything.

The only people he had to verbally communicate with now were his parents, and they weren't always around much anyway. It almost felt like he was living alone in a bubble, cut off from the rest of the world. Even though he knew it was for his own good, he kind of wished he could talk to some people his own age. He'd stopped responding to people a little while after his departure from mainstream education, mainly because he didn't want them to become targets if anyone wanted to get to him, but also because he didn't really have anything interesting to share with them anymore. Most of his former friends had given up on trying to get any form of communication from him after getting little to no response for so long. There was one exception, but it was probably only a matter of time until they stopped too.

The rattling of the letter box caught his attention and he carefully placed his coffee down to go and inspect the source of the noise. They didn't get that many letters so a small part of him worried every time that it would be a note from the government telling him that the jig was up and they were coming to take him for experimentation. Although to be fair they probably wouldn't waste their time sending a letter out to warn him when they could just break the door down and be done with it. His entire being filled with relief when he saw the tell-tale shape of the corner of a Polaroid picture sticking out of the letter slot instead. A small smile tugged at his lips as he removed it and held it as gently as he could in his shaky grasp.

He couldn't help grinning when he saw the picture. It was an extremely unflattering photograph in which of one of his old friends, Clyde Donovan, seemed to have had the entire contents of his lunch tray tipped over him. He turned the picture to see if there was a message and sure enough there was yesterday's date followed the words 'guess which idiot grabbed the wrong girl's butt' scribbled down in Craig Tucker's unmistakable handwriting.

An involuntary laugh escaped him and he shook his head at his friend's foolishness. Clutching the photograph tightly, he rushed back upstairs to add it to the growing collection of Polaroids stuck to his bedroom wall before he forgot.

Craig was the only one of Tweek's friends who still hadn't given up on him. Ever since it started to sink in that Tweek wouldn't be making an appearance any time soon, he'd been sending him these small snapshots of the things he didn't get to see in person. Most of them were of his classmates, captured when they up to their usual ridiculous shenanigans or Craig and his family and pets, but every so often there would be something different.

The pictures that he both looked forward to and dreaded were the ones with more sentimental subjects; pictures of places they used to hang out, pictures of the sunset or sunrise, pictures of clouds or stars. Those pictures always came with messages that made his chest ache, messages like 'look what you're missing out on', 'wish you were here', 'where are you?' and 'I miss you'.

Craig wasn't a person who let others have an insight into his emotions that often so Tweek knew those ones must not have been easy for him to send. Not because he was cold or mean as a lot of people suspected, but because he was awkward and wasn't entirely sure how to express himself properly. Thinking about it, Tweek's strange abilities were probably why they'd gotten on so well. Tweek didn't often criticise him for the way he acted like other people did because he already knew what Craig had been thinking or feeling most of the time anyway.

They'd stopped going out years ago now. Tweek had felt like he had too much going on to be able to keep up with their relationship and he was constantly worried about something bad happening Craig because of him. So as much as he didn't want to, he eventually gathered the courage to explain to Craig that he wasn't in the right place for a relationship and fortunately Craig had been understanding about it. They had still been very close… or at least they were before Tweek had disappeared off of the social radar. They'd spent so much time together when they were younger though that even now it seemed impossible for them to stop caring about how the other was doing. It seemed that Craig wasn't willing to give up hope of him returning just yet and Tweek wasn't sure whether that made him feel incredibly happy or devastated. He knew that Craig had struggled a lot when they were younger and he hoped that he was at least content with his life now and not still hurting or waiting on someone who was quite possibly never going to return.

He knew it was selfish of him to wish that the pictures never stopped, to hope that someone out there would still remember him, but he couldn't help it. He couldn't be around his friends anymore because he didn't want them to have to deal with shit from other people by association and he certainly didn't want to face the possibility of them reacting badly if they found out what he could do. Plus there was still the idea that plagued his thoughts more than anything, that somehow undeniable proof of his abilities would get out and him and the people he cared about would no longer be safe.

More than anything though he wished he could talk to one of them again or even just see one of them again, even if it was only for a few minutes. He was tired of hiding.

* * *

 **Author's note:** This was over 4000 words and it's only the first chapter so if you made it this far I'm sorry, but also I love you for sticking around. I'm not sure if the rest of the chapters will be this long, but I haven't gotten this immersed in a story I'm writing in forever so they probably will be a little lengthy, but I'll try and cut that down and make the chapter sizes smaller if that gets annoying. Tweek's parents may be a bit OOC, I'm sorry if them or any other characters are. Like I said I haven't written fanfiction in years so it's a bit of a learning process for me.

Funnily enough this was inspired by a k-drama I really like called 'Flower Boys Next Door', where a girl who was bullied in high school lives pretty much in hiding in her apartment and the guy who lives next doors to her draws on post it notes for her every day (I actually preferred her with someone else in the show, but I wanted to use that idea because it was cute so that's where the Polaroids thing came from). I kind of mixed it with sci-fi/supernatural elements though because it's what I love.

I'm not entirely sure why I named this 'Four Walls' to be honest. You could read into it a couple of ways though: Tweek is pretty much confined to four walls (his house) at the moment, there will eventually be four characters with abilities, metaphorical and physical walls are a significant part of the story or simply that I'm kpop trash and wanted to use 'Four Walls' as a title because the music video for 'Four Walls' by f(x) is really interesting and symbolic of the butterfly effect and alternate timelines/universes and I love that shit (plus it's relevant to the story bc visions and dream worlds). I'm trying to be all deep and meaningful in the author's note of a South Park fanfic why am I like this?

If you do happen to watch that music video though, the forest in that is totally what I imagine the world Tweek envisions when he's meditating to be like in this by the way. It started as the place he imagines in 'Free Hat', but now it's like that forest.

Sorry for such a long author's note, but I have two more things to say:

1) This fic is definitely going to involve a poly ship (most likely Creekenny, but I'm debating whether one other character will be part of the relationship too or just involved in the abilities situation with them).

2) If you've read my other story 'Identity: Unknown' and are wondering why I never updated, I've been distracted by a lot of difficult personal stuff over the past couple of years so I put a lot of my hobbies aside and now I'm not sure whether to bother continuing it as is because the other kids have been given official powers in the coon and friends AU now for 'The Fractured but Whole' so it feels a bit redundant. I might re-write/tweak the first couple of chapters a little and continue it though because I did have a plan for it. I'm not sure yet though, I just thought I'd address it since there's a bunch of frustrated comments on there asking why it didn't update. I am really sorry I left it so long.

That's all I wanted to say for now. The next chapter is already underway, but I'm starting my second year of uni at the moment so I don't know how much free time I'll have. I'll try to find a regular update schedule of at least once a fortnight though. I hope you enjoy this as much as I'm enjoying writing it and I promise the author's notes won't be this long next time.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** If you saw the mess that was this chapter earlier, I am so so sorry. I'm not quite sure what happened there to be honest. I write everything on google docs and it's usually fine, but I must have edited it a bit on ao3 and then copy pasted the new version into docs so when I put it on here it was just a mess of coding and stuff (I thought it was a little strange that it was over 8000 words long tbh, but I didn't have time to check earlier because I had to get to a lecture).

Anyway, I've re-uploaded it now so it should be ok. Please let me know if it isn't. Thank you so much to the guest who left a review that alerted me to it!

* * *

Unlike most citizens of South Park, Tweek wasn't oblivious to some of the stranger goings-on that occurred every so often in the not-so-quiet mountain town.

Tweek could tell when information was being hidden. It was one of the few advantages of his abilities, but he liked to think he was pretty clued in on things before that came into play. He'd spent most of his life reading up on conspiracy theories and he had always pretty confident in his ability to sense when things weren't quite what they seemed. So without even having to use his abilities, he was at least ninety percent certain that there was something unusual about Kenny McCormick.

Tweek had been keeping an eye on him for a while now. He tuned in whenever the news did a story on Mysterion and searched youtube in his free time for shaky video clips of the superhero at crime scenes or in the middle of fights that had been captured by shocked witnesses. Tweek hadn't told anyone about his almost obsessive observation, but he had constructed a pretty substantial list of theories and reasons why Kenny might be different in the same way he was.

His interest in the superhero had actually started back when he was in elementary school, before Coon and Friends had even been a thing. At the time he'd been drawn in by the challenge of figuring out his real identity as much as everyone else in his school had. The widespread curiosity eventually died down once the other boys started playing superheroes too and everyone knew who he was. Tweek's interest picked back up again though when his real abilities began to surface, as he started to notice little things about the masked boy that bothered him.

It seemed that there were always points in Mysterion's fights where it looked like he was completely done for, moments where he was injured or took a fall and failed to get back up, but somehow he always ended up winning.

In fact, there were times he could vaguely remember seeing reports of Mysterion dying, but when he'd looked for them again he couldn't find them. He'd assumed that maybe he just imagined those instances, but there was a nagging feeling that told him that wasn't true.

He tried to tell himself not to be silly, that it was impossible that Kenny had died when he was out there fighting crime as Mysterion again the next day. He couldn't help feeling like a bit of a hypocrite though considering that he himself was a walking impossibility. It didn't really work anyway because the more Tweek saw, the more sure he became that Kenny had some kind of power.

Tweek didn't want to get his hopes up too much, but the idea that someone out there might understand what he was going through did make him feel a lot less alone. It was this that fueled his determination to keep watching in hopes of finding some solid evidence.

At times, when being stuck in the same place for so long had Tweek feeling a little trapped, he considered just going out and running wild with his own powers. Inevitably he decided that was a bit too dangerous for his liking so he decided to leave crime fighting alter egos to the experts and people with death wishes. Sometimes though, he liked to imagine a world where people didn't think he was crazy, creepy or annoying and he actually made a difference.

So far the only thing he had to prove he wasn't imagining everything was a sketchbook full of unfamiliar faces he'd seen in his subconscious. He was pretty good at art and had decided to use his skills to document the things his powers had shown him.

On the rare occasion his parents allowed him to go run an errand for them, he'd actually caught glimpses of some of the people he'd drawn, so he officially knew it wasn't just his overactive brain making up things that didn't exist. He didn't know if he should be happy about that or if he would have prefered finding out he was just seeing things at this point, but he continued drawing people anyway, partially out of boredom and partially because something told him it might be useful one day.

He was in his living room, just finishing off the shading on the nose of someone he'd spoken to the night before when an urgent news report flashed on the TV screen. Tweek placed the sketchbook down next to him and turned the volume up a little before leaning in closer.

It was pretty run of the mill at first, some person had been causing havoc, trying to start riots and so on. Then things took a turn for the slightly more sinister as security footage revealed the person breaking into the mayor's office earlier that day. They were dressed pretty normally, in jeans and a hooded jacket, probably to avoid causing any suspicion, but the mask covering the lower half of their face still ensured that their identity was hidden.

Tweek watched in shock, his eyes wide and frantic as he witnessed the Mayor being carried out of her office unconscious. The masked man turned to look straight into the security camera and a furious pair of eyes stared out at the viewers. "You can have your Mayor back," he spat, "as soon as you give me my daughter back!"

Before Tweek even had time to process what he'd seen, he could feel the familiar tug at his subconscious, the not entirely present sensation that came before being dragged into someone else's mind. He blinked forcefully, willing the sensation to pass, but it was too late.

He could hear muffled voices that were gradually becoming clearer the more he slipped away, voices from wherever the person whose mind he was about to visit was. He tried to fight the sensation of being pulled away from his surroundings, but he couldn't help slumping against the back of the couch as he lost the ability to control his limbs and his eyelids began to feel heavier and heavier.

That was the worst thing about experiencing this when he was awake, he hated not having control of his own body, especially since it was one of the few things he actually had any control over anymore.

After a few more seconds of struggling to keep his eyes open, Tweek's eyelids finally slipped closed and when he opened them again his surroundings were completely different.

The first strange thing he noticed was that this person was fully awake. He'd never entered another person's subconscious while they were awake before. He was used to seeing people's dreams and memories play out in front of him, but right now he could tell he was seeing what the other person was seeing. Tweek didn't know how to feel about that, he didn't like witnessing people's thoughts, dreams and memories because it felt wrong, like he was intruding on something extremely personal.

This felt different though, it felt like someone had dragged him along on an adventure he didn't want to be on and he had no choice but to just watch events unfold.

The second thing he picked up on was that wherever this person was, it was incredibly dark and cold and it seemed like there was more dust in the room than air. The only light source in the room was coming from an almost burnt out candle and even that was barely providing any illumination.

The final detail he zeroed in on was that he could sense the presence of someone else in the room. He often worried about being watched by someone he couldn't see, but now he could actually sense the weight of someone else's gaze upon him. He knew it wasn't actually him being looked at, but he still felt the urge to shrink away and he almost wished he had control of this person's body so he could look for the source of the stare.

He didn't have much time to dwell on this though. He heard someone shift around a little and what sounded suspiciously like the rattling of metal chains before the other occupant of the room spoke up. "Where have you taken me?" the voice questioned and Tweek instantly recognised it as both female and familiar.

"Somewhere no one will ever think to look," his person's voice answered.

"I highly doubt that," the woman contested. "My colleagues and the police will look everywhere they possibly can. This town needs me and they won't stop until they find me."

"Oh really? Is that true Mayor?" his guy's voice contested. "How many people do you think will remember that this town even has a library let alone think to check its basement?" There was a pause and a sharp intake of breath from the other side of the room before he continued. "Besides, I don't plan to keep you here for long. If I don't get what I want by next Monday, I'm going to kill you."

'Holy shit! I'm in the body of a criminal!' Tweek thought as the situation started to click. It dawned on him that he was currently actually occupying the brain of the kidnapper from the news report. Something was off though. This man didn't feel as angry as he looked and acted, if Tweek didn't know better he'd say it actually almost felt like he was scared.

"For the last time, I can't give you your daughter back!" The mayor snapped. "She was at risk of putting everyone's lives in danger and we had no choice but to step in and report her to the authorities," she explained desperately. "I can't possibly get her back because I'm not allowed to know where they took her. Hell, I'm not even allowed to know what state she's in!"

Tweek began to wonder what was going on here. Who was this man? and what had his daughter done that was bad enough to warrant her being taken away? What if she had been like Tweek and they'd taken her away for experiments? He knew that was unlikely, but after seeing one too many X-Men movies and episodes of Heroes, he couldn't help being paranoid that there might be more people out there with powers and the government might be keeping an eye on them ready to strike when they least expect it.

He was distracted from this train of thought when he caught a glimpse of metal in the darkness and realised that this man was holding a gun. "Well, you better hope those higher ups decide to spill some information," he stated and Tweek briefly heard the sound of the gun pressing against skin, "because if they don't, I-I'll be spilling your blood."

Tweek hadn't missed the slight trembling in the man's voice or shake in his hand as he held the gun to her head. He didn't think this man actually wanted to kill anyone. He actually thought that this man was just desperate to make sure his daughter was safe and had ended up letting his actions get way out of hand, but that didn't stop the feeling of relief when he saw the man remove his gun from the Mayor's head and slowly back away.

Tweek shot back into his own body so quickly that it felt like an overstretched elastic band snapping back into place. He gasped a little, breathing heavily as he took in his surroundings and confirmed that he was in fact back in his own living room. "Jesus christ!" he gasped, pressing a hand against his forehead. "What the fuck was that?"

His gaze snapped back to the tv screen as he heard the news reporter add a final piece of information. "If anyone has any information on who this man might be or happened to see anything suspicious they are instructed to contact either the police or Mysterion immediately. That's all for now, we'll be back at ten with the latest headlines from across the globe."

"I've gotta tell someone about this," Tweek mumbled to himself. He knew the police in this town would probably either laugh at him or suspect him if he told them what he knew, so that just left Kenny. "All I have to do is tell him and then I can just forget this whole thing happened and go back to laying low a-and… feeling completely trapped." Tweek sighed, running a hand through his hair and pulling at a few strands at the nape of his neck.

It wasn't that he missed school or drama or anything like that, he was actually kind of thankful to have a break from all of the pressure that came with being around so many people on a daily basis. Being alone in an empty house every day should have been his dream scenario, but in reality it just made him feel suffocated and more than a little claustrophobic.

"Who are you talking to sweetie?" his mom's voice suddenly called from the kitchen doorway. He was so on edge that he jumped and let out what could only be described as a squawk before clutching his shirt as he tried to calm his heartbeat and figure out how breathing worked again.

"Um, n-no one mom," he answered. "I was just thinking out loud."

"Ok hun," his mom answered, undeterred by what she considered to be the boy's usual erratic behaviour. "Well, your dad and I have just put dinner out if you want to come join us."

"Ok mom," Tweek answered, waiting until his mother left the room before standing up shakily and willing himself not to trip on the way to the table as he got used to being in control of his limbs again.

He sat in silence, pushing his food around the plate with trembling hands as he weighed his options. He didn't have any contact details for anyone he went to school with and his mom and dad had started turning the internet off at a certain time because of fear mongering news reports they'd seen about trolls and the possibility of technology brainwashing people.

This meant he would have to go to Kenny's house personally. The only problem was that sneaking out would be a challenge because even if his parents weren't always that vigilant Tweek wasn't exactly that capable of being subtle when he was under pressure. He eventually came to the conclusion that maybe he should just ask them. A decision that he didn't have a lot of time to deliberate over as his father chose that moment to notice his behaviour.

"You ok there, son?" his dad asked. "Picking up radio waves or just thinking?" he added, laughing a little at his unfunny joke.

"Just th-thinking," Tweek replied. He tried to calm his nerves before he asked the question, but that wasn't going anywhere so he decided to scrap that approach and just ask as quickly as possible. "CanIgotoKenny'shouse?" he blurted.

Fortunately, his parents had gotten pretty good at the art of Tweek translation over the years so he didn't need to repeat himself. Unfortunately, their faces both displayed the same 'our son is being weird again' expressions that they wore whenever they were about to shoot down something that he said and write it off as him having an eccentric moment.

"Go to Kenny's house?" his mom questioned. "Tweek, honey, there's no need for that. We don't take coffee deliveries from those people anymore, remember?"

"I-I know, that's not why I want to go over there," Tweek explained, his voice almost a mumble at this point. "I just w-want to go talk to Kenny."

His parents shared a look before sighing and looking back at Tweek, their eyes filled with pity. Tweek kind of wanted to crawl under the table and hide from those expressions. He didn't want their pity, it always felt kind of forced and insincere. It was always directed at him when they were going to say or ask him to do something he wouldn't like.

"It's a Friday evening Tweek, town is going to be busy and this is not like when we send you to do a quick task for us. We don't want you wandering around out there, exposed to all of those people for too long."

"B-but this is really reeally important," Tweek argued, "and it won't take long at all, I promise."

His dad sighed in resignation. "Look son, I know this situation is not ideal for you, it's hard for us too," his dad said. "We've had to hire someone to do all the things you used to do and it's costing us more..." his mom shot a brief look at his dad and Tweek heard her think 'that's not helping', but it failed to stop him. "It's worth it though, to protect the family business. For where else in South Park will people get their fresh, locally brewed coffee; fresh like the breeze on a summer afternoon and expertly blended with a variety of flavours for the ultimate coffee drinking experience?"

"Dad!" Tweek groaned, grabbing fistfulls of his hair. "Can I p-please just go out this one time? It's important I swear!"

"Oh I'm sure it's not that urgent Tweek," his dad replied dismissively. "It's not like it's a matter of life and death or anything."

"But it is though!" Tweek argued.

"I'm sure that whatever you need to tell Kenny can wait until the next time your mom and I see him at the coffee shop," his dad insisted. "Now eat your dinner before it goes cold."

"We're doing this because we care about you," his mom added softly. "Maybe one day if you can learn to control this thing better you can go out more often, but for now it's safer for you to stay here."

Tweek let out a defeated sigh, feeling a little guilty for putting his parents through all of this. He knew they meant well and he knew it had been hard on them to see him come home with injuries from defending himself against people who didn't like him being different, especially after things had just been starting to look up back when he'd been one half of the town's favourite couple. Sometimes he wished he could be normal just so that they could rely on him to do things without panicking or acting weird in public because of his powers. It probably wasn't easy knowing that so many people thought your child was some kind of freak.

"I understand," Tweek assured them. "I'm s-sorry."

"That's ok son," his dad answered, and they all went back to eating in silence.

Later that evening, Tweek found himself pacing his room. He had tried to distract himself, but it wasn't working. Just doing nothing was eating away at him, but what could he do? He didn't have Kenny's phone number or access to the internet.

Even if he could contact the other boy, he was pretty sure a 'Hey, I know I hardly spoke to you that much and I disappeared off the face of Earth, but Mayor McDaniels is being held hostage in the basement of the library. p.s. Don't ask how I know this, I just do.' would not go down well and would look all kinds of suspicious on his part. It would definitely be better if they could somehow talk in person so he could explain everything.

He could try sneaking out, but that would have to involve him finding a way out through one of the upstairs windows. Plus his parents would most probably check on him now that he'd made a bit of a scene at dinner, so that option was also out.

That left him back at square one with nothing though.

He was beginning to feel more than a little agitated and was about five seconds away from a small breakdown when the wall of polaroids caught his eye. For some reason he found himself being drawn towards it, almost as if someone had thrown an invisible lasso around his waist and was now dragging him forwards.

A faint ringing met his ears, almost as if he was approaching town on a busy day and could hear the hum of several conversations in the distance. With each step he took towards the pictures, the noise grew louder, until it sounded more like when he was still at school in a crowded lunch hall and everyone was trying to talk over each other.

He had no idea why, but he suddenly had a very strong feeling that these pictures held the solution to his problem. He cast his glance over the numerous pictures he'd accumulated crossing one arm over his stomach and tapping his chin with the other as his brain worked overtime to figure out how exactly this was going to help him.

The combined voices grew louder and louder and he shakily lifted his hands to press them against his ears even though he knew that wouldn't help.

There was a time when things like this used to freak him out. He vaguely remembers having a panic attack the first time he glanced at something and it pulled him into a flashback of someone else's memory. It still scares the shit out of him when unexplainable things happen sometimes, right now though he didn't have time to stress out about it. He was on a mission to figure out what the fuck these pictures had to do with his situation.

His eyes scanned over each polaroid meticulously, checking the contents of each picture. When he reached the top right corner the voices came to a sudden halt and his eyes narrowed in on the picture there.

Kenny McCormick.

The blond boy was staring back at him with a broad smile on his face and that trademark look in his bright blue eyes that gave off the feeling that he knew something everyone else didn't, that he'd seen things no one his age should see. Tweek briefly wondered if his eyes held that same look now after all the things he'd witnessed, but he concluded that he probably just looked tired more than anything else.

He stood on tiptoes and reached up to pluck the photo off the wall, being careful not to take the paint off the wall with it. On further inspection, Tweek noticed that sure enough, the background was the high school cafeteria. He also recognised Kyle sitting beside Kenny, looking like he had been in the middle of a lengthy explanation when Craig had captured the image.

Turning the picture over, he read 'Had to spend lunch with these losers. They're not the absolute worst though I guess.' in Craig's messy handwriting. He flipped it back over again and stared at the picture, his brows furrowing in confusion.

He didn't often get glimpses of other people's memories from inanimate objects unless the person still had a sentimental connection to it or remembered the item being involved in that memory. If this is what the voices had led to, then that means what he was hearing was echoes from what he assumed was Craig's memories. With that thought an idea hit Tweek like a ton of bricks.

He'd never tried to use his powers on purpose before and he had no idea if he even could. However, there was a chance that if Craig still somehow had a subconscious connection to his photos, Tweek could try and use that to establish some kind of link and project thoughts his way or possibly even bring him into his mind space to talk to him. That way, he could give the message to Craig and Craig could pass it on to Kenny, who would put on his Mysterion outfit and go save the day.

It wasn't a perfect plan, but he decided it was better than nothing and at least worth a try.

He took the polaroid with him and sat on the bed, staring at it for a good few minutes as he tried to figure out how exactly he was going to do this. It was all well and good to theorise that he could potentially communicate this way, but thinking about actually putting it into practice terrified him.

Even if he could get a hold of Craig this way, what the heck was he going to say to him? 'Sorry I've ignored all of your attempts to talk to me for the past few years, but I need you to pass on a message to Kenny for me'? Tweek knew that wouldn't be a good idea. He bit his lip as he thought about it. What if Craig was angry with him? Even worse, what if Craig was upset or disappointed?

He shook his head in an attempt to rid himself of those thoughts. He couldn't think like that right now, someone's life was at stake. That didn't stop a tight ball of anxiety from welling up in his chest though as he crossed his legs and straightened his back, assuming his meditating position.

Exhaling a shaky breath and closing his eyes, Tweek began to focus on the image in his mind, trying to imagine the sights, sounds and smells of the cafeteria on a busy day. He imagined the squeaks of trainers against tile and the buzz of chatter that he had heard previously. He imagined Craig interrupting the flow of conversation with a flash of his camera and he imagined Kenny being ready with a winning smile and Kyle being caught off guard. His thoughts were running wild with little details like the colour of the uncomfortable plastic chairs and the glare of the fluorescent lights that hung above them.

There was a brief moment where Tweek worried that this wasn't going to work, that he had overthought it and now nothing was going to happen. He had opened his eyes again, ready to admit defeat, but the sight that greeted him wasn't his cluttered bedroom.

He felt like he was in a daze as he took in his environment, turning on the spot to make sure he was actually seeing things right. The view that he was met with was without a doubt a school cafeteria, but it was almost as if it had been frozen in time. The students and staff were completely still, stuck in a variety of mid-activity poses, and it was eerily silent with the exception of Tweek's footsteps as he inspected the new surroundings from his spot in the center of the room.

His nerves were all over the place at this point as he slowly maneuvered his way through the human statues and tried to find the awkward, tall brunette he had been hoping to speak to.

"Oh no! Oh Jesus! W-what if I've messed this whole thing up and now I'm stuck here f-for the rest of m-my life?" he mumbled, his whole body shaking. "W-what if Craig is here somewhere too and I got us both trapped here and he's going to h-hate me forever?! Oh God, this is way too much pressure!"

"Hello?" a voice called in response to his ramblings, slicing through the silence and echoing off the walls of the building, causing Tweek to jump. He frowned in confusion as he realised that the voice seemed a bit high pitched and not really nasal enough for the person whose memory he assumed this would be and who he assumed he'd be speaking to. Nevertheless, Tweek inhaled a calming breath as he turned to walk in the direction the voice had come from.

Clenching his fists, he summoned the courage to call out. "C-Craig?" he shouted, "is that you?"

A small chuckle responded to his question as he shuffled his way around a group of bullies and the person they had been in the middle of tripping up. "Not quite," the voice answered teasingly.

Tweek ducked under a lunch tray that had been frozen mid flight and when he stood back up he came face to face with the table he had been looking for and the only occupant that was as present as he was. "Kenny?!" he questioned.

"The one and only," Kenny grinned, shooting Tweek a wink. "Hey Tweek, long time no see."

Tweek found himself unable to respond as he openly stared at the other boy. He couldn't believe this. Not only had he managed to control one of his abilities for the first time ever, but he also managed to get to the actual person he had needed to speak to rather than having to pass the message along. He couldn't help but gawk at the other boy as he tried to comprehend it, but thankfully Kenny either didn't notice or didn't mind. He soon caught on that Tweek was struggling to find his words and filled the silence himself.

"Now, I don't know if I fell asleep or if this is some kind of bizarre out of body experience, but I've gotta say that..." he shifted his gaze to Clyde, who was sat to his left with his mouth wide open mid-chew and a half finished burrito in his hand "... is extremely attractive." He continued to stare at him for a second and poked him in the cheek a few times before turning to address Tweek again.

Kenny gave Tweek a few seconds to respond before deciding that his attempt at an icebreaker had fallen flat and he would probably be better off just cutting to the chase. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table and resting his chin on his hands.

"So… what brings us here, stranger?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note:** This took so long for me to update, I'm sorry. Life has thrown a lot of things at me to deal with lately so I've been a bit preoccupied.

Anyway here is Kenny's introduction to the story. I hope it's ok because it was pretty difficult to write such a long conversation between two characters that don't really have a whole lot of lines on the show.

* * *

Kenny stared at Tweek for a good minute or so before squinting a little and then making himself blink a couple of times, almost as if he thought Tweek would be gone when he opened his eyes.

"This is weird, even for me," he commented finally, a little too casually for the actual situation. "I was thinking maybe I was under the influence or something, but don't remember drinking anything and I could've sworn I haven't touched any drugs since that one party where I tried some and it went horribly wrong. So that only leaves me with a few possible explanations and I'm not really liking any of them."

"You're not drunk or high," said Tweek. "I did this," he admitted, his eyes widening as the weight of the situation caught up with him. "O-oh my God, I did this," Tweek mumbled. "I actually did it! I can't believe I actually did this!" he exclaimed.

A triumphant smile graced his features as the idea that he'd pulled off his plan successfully caught up with him. He realised what this meant. It meant that, however small, there was a chance he could learn to control his abilities. If he could learn to control them then maybe, just maybe he could go outside again without having to worry about seeing or hearing anything he didn't want to. He could learn to interact with people without worrying about them staring at him like he's a science experiment gone wrong or worse. It meant that there was a chance he could have at least a little bit of normality back in his life.

"That… was not on the list of possible explanations," Kenny mumbled barely loud enough for the other to hear. A thoughtful expression swept over his features before he spoke up, snapping Tweek out of his celebratory mood. "Wait. So let me get this straight, you know what the fuck's happening right now, right?" he questioned hopefully.

"Yeah," Tweek replied nervously.

He tugged on the hair at the nape of his neck self-consciously, unsure how Kenny was going to react. He felt a little uneasy about how awkward he must look, lingering near the table instead of just taking a seat at it to talk to the other. He didn't want to come across as too laid back though in case Kenny thought he was being rude, so his social anxiety had him sort of stuck in this weird stalemate, edging forward but not actually daring to just take a seat. This probably made him look pretty weird to be honest, but he was unable to break out of it now.

"Well would you care to shed a little light on the situation?" Kenny inquired, either oblivious to Tweek's internal struggle or not pointing it out because he was a decent person, "because I am so fucking lost right now. What the actual shit is going on? Is this place real? Shit, are we even fucking real?"

"I will explain everything, I swear!" Tweek promised, holding his hands up in a surrendering motion in hopes of getting Kenny to realise his motives weren't anything devious. "Just please promise you won't freak out on me when I do."

Kenny took in his surroundings for a moment, as if deliberating whether he should listen to what Tweek had to say. When his gaze settled on Tweek again, the boy tried his hardest to appear sincere, cringing slightly when an involuntary twitch ruined it. Kenny smiled a little at this though and finally nodded his head. "Ok." He motioned for Tweek to come and sit down. "Go ahead, I'm all fucking ears man."

Tweek approached the table and awkwardly slipped into the seat opposite Kenny and consequently next to Craig... or the imaginary, past snapshot of Craig anyway… he tried not to stress about the details too much. Whatever this version of Craig was, he was frozen in place as he pointed his camera towards Kenny and the redhead to Kenny's left an intense look of concentration on his face as he lines up the shot. Tweek spared the boy a brief glance, smiling a little at what he had liked to call Craig's 'photography face' before turning his attention back to Kenny.

"Ok, so what do you want to know?" Tweek asked, thinking he should probably let Kenny ask some questions first if he was going to get the boy to trust him enough to believe his information.

Kenny appeared to be deep in thought for a minute or two and Tweek jumped a little when he finally spoke up. "What is this exactly? Like what's going on right now?" he questioned. "Is this really the school? because I don't remember being here before this."

"Not exactly?" Tweek shrugged. "It's kind of complicated, but this is more of an illusion than anything I guess. You're not actually, physically in school right now, so at least there's that."

"Thank fuck for that," Kenny muttered, his tone full of relief, "I've had more than enough of that place for one day." Tweek grinned at the admission.

Tweek wasn't quite sure how to go on. He was never good at explaining things in a clear and concise way. He had always left that kind of thing to Craig as he had a way of getting his point across with as little room for confusion as possible. Tweek on the other hand was more of a weaver of stories, he had the tendency to find interesting tangents that led him further and further away from the original point. It could sometimes blow up in people's faces, especially when he got too immersed in what he was talking about, like the time he accidentally made the whole school think Craig had cheated on him. There was no room for confusion right now though, he had a message to deliver and the sooner he could clear up what was happening and get to that the better.

In an attempt to make his explanation easier, he decided to see how much Kenny was aware of first. "What do you remember?" he asked. "If you don't mind me asking I mean."

Kenny pressed his fingers against his temples as he tried to recall the events prior to this bizarre experience. "I remember being at Stan's house with the others and then I started feeling really fucking weird, like I was about to have the worst headache of my life, but then everything went dark and when I opened my eyes I was sat here with these lives and souls of the party instead," he said, gesturing toward his motionless friends.

Tweek rested his chin in his hand as he took in that information. So Kenny didn't even have to be in a state of sleep for him to pull him in here, that was interesting. He wondered what had happened to the boy's body, whether he had slipped into a state of sleep or whether it was more of a trance like state where he still appeared awake but wasn't all that responsive. Tweek usually experienced the latter when he was pulled into someone else's subconscious, which could be a pain for his parents.

"Am I dead right now? Is that what this is?" Kenny asked suddenly, "because I heard rumours that you died and I gotta tell you that dragging someone into purgatory or whatever kind of afterlife this is with you is kind of a dick move. As much as I'd be down to hang out with you any other time I was kind of in the middle of watching something with my friends."

"Oh Jesus, I'm sorry for interrupting!" Tweek exclaimed. "You're not dead though, honestly," he assured him, adding the boy's immediate jump to that conclusion to his ever growing list of evidence that Kenny might also not be all that normal. "I'm not dead either, I wish people would stop saying that," he added as an afterthought.

"Hardly anybody has seen you in the last few years. You just fucking disappeared one day and never returned. It's natural for people to jump to conclusions and assume stupid things like that in this town," Kenny shrugged. "If it's any consolation I'm glad you're not actually dead because if you were this one would be devastated," he said, motioning towards Craig.

Tweek glanced to his right and let out a regretful sigh, he didn't need to be thinking about how guilty he felt about not talking to Craig anymore right now. Luckily, Kenny picked up on this and steered the conversation back in its original direction. "So if we're not dead and this isn't a dream then what's going on here?"

"You're kind of sort of in my subconscious," Tweek explained, figuring he should just be upfront about it in order to avoid further confusion. "This is going to sound completely crazy, but I have these… abilities I guess. I can hear people's thoughts, see their dreams and memories and have conversations with them in my subconscious. Maybe some other things too, I'm not really sure, some things have only happened once so I don't know if they're permanent. I hope they're not to be honest."

"So basically, you're using those abilities on me right now," Kenny concluded.

"Exactly," Tweek nodded. "Although, this is the first time I've actually brought someone in here by choice, usually people just wander into my dreams and stuff without my permission and follow me around asking questions or spilling their life story to me. I didn't actually think this was going to work, and I wasn't actually aiming to bring you here specifically, even though it is you that I need to talk to."

"Who were you trying to bring here?" Kenny asked, seeming surprising ready to accept his story.

Tweek cast a pointed look at the boy next to him and Kenny's eyes lit up in understanding. "Sometimes, I can access people's memories through objects. I thought this might be Craig's memory because it was attached to the picture he took of you-"

"You keep those?" Kenny interjected, "Craig is gonna be so fucking happy to hear that! He might actually smile for once."

Tweek decided not to say anything in protest. He figured it wouldn't hurt to allow Kenny to pass on this one piece of information because he hated the idea that Craig hadn't been happy. It made his chest ache a little whenever he thought about the fact that his lack of communication might have been hurting the other boy. He also really wanted him to have a motive to keep sending the photographs, however selfish it made him feel to just accept them without offering anything in return.

"Anyway..." he said, moving swiftly along before he could dwell on it any further, "I thought it was his subconscious I was establishing a connection with because he's the one who took the picture. I was gonna try to give him the message to pass on to you, but I guess you have memories attached to it too so you got brought here instead."

"Well yeah, you don't exactly forget when the emotionally constipated Craig Tucker deems you worthy of being captured on camera," Kenny pointed out. "Plus, Clyde blabbed that Craig sends them to you after he took it and he got so embarrassed," he chuckled. "That was also the day a full scale food fight broke out. No lie, people were picking food out of their hair for like a whole fucking week after that! Clyde pulled a strip of lettuce out of his underwear during class, it was nasty!"

They both spared a glance at the boy and cracked up, bursting into a fit of laughter. Every time they tried to calm themselves down they'd catch each other's eyes and start giggling again.

Tweek couldn't remember the last time he laughed like this and suddenly he found himself genuinely enjoying being in the company of someone his own age for once. It was kind of scary, his chest felt a little heavy with nerves and a part of him pointed out at least five ways he could have worded things better each time he spoke. For the first time in a long time he felt like a real person though, which was ironic because at that moment he was actually pretty much just an illusion.

He hadn't really realised how much he missed this kind of interaction until now, and the mood suddenly sobered up as he thought about it. "I've missed so much, haven't I?" he questioned trying not to get upset when Kenny nodded somberly. "You know, I'm still just as much of a coward as I used to be. When I saw you here instead of Craig I felt kind of relieved because I wouldn't have to face him and explain where I've been and why I disappeared."

"Are you serious right now? Where did you ever get the idea that you were a coward? Sure, you had a lot of irrational fears, but you've never struck me as the kind of person who would let that stop you. I mean shit, I heard from the guys that you even threatened Steven Spielberg and George Lucas with bazooka just to save them once! That's like one of the most badass things I've ever heard! Give yourself a little more credit," Kenny lectured, looking just a little bit frustrated that Tweek had put himself down like that.

He seemed to realise that he may have come across a little too strong when he caught sight of Tweek's surprised expression because he coughed a little to clear his throat and the next time he spoke it was in a slightly softer tone. "Just for the record though where did you go?" he asked.

"My parents pulled me out of school and work because I got attacked a couple of times when I accidentally read people's minds and it freaked them out," Tweek sighed, "and my mom and dad were losing customers because people were spreading rumours that I was crazy or dangerous. So they just decided that it would be safer for me and the family business if I stayed in the house where I could avoid incidents."

"They decided?" Kenny repeated. "What about you though? Are you ok with that?"

"You're being awfully calm and accepting about this whole thing considering that I've told you I have actual superhuman abilities," Tweek pointed out, not wanting to answer Kenny's questions.

"I see no reason not to believe you considering where we are right now," Kenny shrugged. "Besides, I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't believe you, considering the things I've got going on."

"So it's true then, you can't die!" Tweek blurted, enjoying the shocked expression his words drew out of the other boy.

Kenny gaped at the other boy. "How did you-"

"I had my suspicions," Tweek interrupted. "I m-mean, I could kind of remember seeing you get killed in fights as Mysterion, but then you were back in the next couple of days and nobody made any comments on it. I thought I was imagining things at first, but after a couple of times I was sure I wasn't. Now I'm thinking maybe there's some kind of media cover up going on and they're deleting footage and articles for some reason because everyone knows the media is corrupt as hell. Plus there was that whole thing just now where you accused me of dragging you into purgatory like it wasn't really a big deal. Anyone else would have been freaking the fuck out at the concept of being dead, but you just seemed mildly inconvenienced."

"Well, you're right about it not being your imagination." Kenny said slowly. Tweek let out a relieved sigh upon receiving that confirmation that he hadn't completely lost his mind quite yet. "There isn't a media conspiracy though. I've just been deleting the evidence because nobody ever remembers me dying and I don't want the footage and reports causing mass confusion because then people would be watching me even closer than usual."

Tweek nodded in understanding. That made a lot of sense. If he had a power like that he'd want to do whatever he could to avoid being looked at under a magnifying glass by the public, the media and most probably also the government too.

"At least nobody ever remembered until now anyway," Kenny mumbled, a hint of surprise still lingering in his expression as he stared at the other boy. He shook his head and frowned at the table in front of him. "Everyone always just greets me as usual whenever I turn up again as if they didn't just see me die. It wouldn't bother me so much if I couldn't feel anything, but I feel every fucking thing and it seems like nobody is even able to give a shit sometimes."

"That sounds awful," Tweek said sincerely. "I'm sorry you have to deal with all that."

"It's ok, I'm used to it by now," Kenny shrugged.

"You shouldn't have had to get used to it though," Tweek frowned. "It's so unfair."

Kenny's features took on a look of disbelief, eyebrows raising above bright blue eyes that were filled with surprise and confusion. He looked at Tweek as if he was a rare species of animal that was supposed to have been extinct. Tweek squirmed in his seat, beginning to feel uncomfortably self conscious under the other's gaze. It was at times like this that he actually wished his mind reading abilities would be less selective and just reveal every thought because his brain always seemed to fill the gaps with something self-deprecating when he was left guessing.

"What about you dude?" Kenny finally questioned.

Tweek was more than a little taken aback. The last thing he was expecting was for the spotlight to be turned on him all of a sudden. "What about me?" he mirrored, not quite understanding what Kenny was getting at.

"You have these amazing powers that you could use to help people and they would probably actually fucking remember it, but instead you're shut away in your house and not allowed to talk to any of your friends anymore because of it? That's bullshit!" He brought his hands down on the table with a thud to emphasize his point and Tweek flinched a little at the sudden loud noise. "I might be caught in an endless loop of dying and reviving, but at least I'm free to actually leave my house. I can't imagine being stuck inside all the time. Like holy shit it must be driving you crazy!"

"It's not that bad," Tweek replied. "It's frustrating and boring and lonely sometimes, but it's safe."

Kenny silently stared at his hands for a few seconds, seemingly deliberating over something, before meeting Tweek's gaze with a determined expression. "You should come out on missions with me."

It wasn't a question, it was stated like a fact and Tweek wasn't quite sure how to respond. He'd thought Kenny would think he was a freak. He'd assumed throughout the conversation that this would end with Kenny taking the information and the two of them parting ways never to see each other again. At most he'd thought he might be able to become someone who relays information to the superhero when he needs it, but here Kenny is asking him to be his sidekick as if he wouldn't actually mind spending more time with him. Tweek wasn't equipped to handle people enjoying his company let alone requesting more of it. Even if he was there was still the matter of his parents and how betrayed they would feel if they discovered that he'd sneaked out to go on missions with the local vigilante.

He quickly shook his head. "N-no I really don't think that's a good idea," he insisted. "I'm just here to pass on a message and then I'm going to leave."

"Are you sure?" Kenny asked, a spark of disappointment in his expression. Tweek nodded reluctantly, not really wanting to say no to the other boy when he was being so nice to him, but knowing it was for the best.

"Ok," Kenny sighed. "What's the message?"

Tweek took a deep breath, trying not to let his mind wander back to the scene as he prepared to reveal what he knew. Kenny would probably be weirded out if the lunch hall suddenly melted away to reveal a dark basement and a person in chains. Although Tweek didn't doubt that he'd probably seen weirder things fighting crime in a town like South Park.

"It's about that guy who was on the news earlier, the one who took Mayor McDaniels," he explained tentatively, keeping an eye on their surroundings.

Kenny perked up a little at that, leaning closer to Tweek over the table and speaking as if someone might be listening in. "What do you know? Did you see who it was?"

"No, I couldn't figure out who he was, but I saw where he took her," Tweek answered urgently, caught off guard by Kenny's sudden serious demeanour. "She's in-"

"Kenny?" A voice intruded, bouncing off the walls around them. "Kenny!" Tweek immediately turned around to look for the source of the voice. He frowned when he saw nothing. That was weird, he could have sworn it sounded just like...

"Was that Stan and Kyle?" Kenny asked, also looking back over his shoulder. When they turned back to the table, all of the other people were gone and it seemed as if the room around them was beginning to fade away. "What the fuck? What's happening now?"

"You said you fell asleep at Stan's house, right?" Tweek inquired, looking up at the ceiling when it sounded like another shout came from above them. Kenny nodded. "I think your friends are trying to wake you up," Tweek explained, meeting Kenny's gaze again. "I don't think I'll be able to keep you here much longer."

"Shit! Quick, tell me where the Mayor is!" Kenny demanded.

"She's in the basement of the library," Tweek disclosed. "That guy said he was planning to kill her if he doesn't get the information he wants by Monday, so you need to hurry."

"Oh my God I forgot this town even had a library!"

"Yeah, that's what the kidnapper was banking on."

"I hate to give a criminal credit, but that's kind of genius," Kenny admitted. "Thank you so much for telling me Tweek! you're literally a lifesaver!"

"All I did was pass on information," Tweek mumbled, rubbing his arm self consciously.

"Are you kidding me? You did all of this shit just so that you could make sure someone finds her," Kenny declared, gesturing at the rapidly dissipating scenery around them. "That's amazing."

Tweek didn't have any response to that other than a shy smile. Outside of his parents no one ever praised him for using his powers before and even his parents had stopped after his abilities had started to become more of a burden than a source of uniqueness. So he hadn't been at all prepared to hear it from someone outside of the very small circle of people he interacted with, and more than once too. He could feel himself blushing.

"Are you sure you don't want to get out of that house for a while?" Kenny asked one last time, a hopeful gleam in his eyes. "Because I could always use a teammate. You wouldn't even have to fight anyone if you didn't want to, just break out the old costume and tag along."

"I'm sure," Tweek assured him, "and I wouldn't even fit in that now anyway. It was one of Craig's jackets from when we were 10 years old."

"Ok fine, I won't make you go with me if you don't want to," Kenny conceded, but something in his expression told Tweek he hadn't entirely given up on the idea yet. His instincts were proven right in the next couple of seconds, when Kenny decided to add one last note. "Don't think this is the last you're gonna hear from me though. I'll see ya tomorrow!"

"Wait what?!" Tweek shouted, both surprised by the statement and unsure if the other would still hear him as his image began to fade.

"Bye Tweek!" Kenny waved with a smile, refusing to acknowledge the other's concern. Tweek had no time to protest any further after that because he'd blinked and Kenny had completely disappeared, leaving him standing alone in the dark, waiting to come back to his senses.

The return to reality was a slow one this time, and it left Tweek looking around his room with wide eyes as he tried to take it all in. His eyes caught a figure in the doorway and he jumped at the sight before his brain began to catch up with things again and registered that it was just his mom. She was standing just outside his door, leaning against the frame and openly staring at him with a look of mild discomfort.

"It freaks me out sometimes when you do that," she commented. "It's like you're not here anymore."

"Most of the time I'm not," Tweek mumbled absentmindedly, uncrossing his legs and moving to sit on the edge of his bed.

His mother offered him a sympathetic smile. "Where were you this time?"

Tweek took a few seconds to think his answer through, trying to find one that wouldn't raise his mother's suspicions too much. "J-just daydreaming," he settled on, smiling to himself.

"That's nice," Mrs. Tweak said, although her expression portrayed concern. She tapped her fingernails against the wood of the door frame before sighing and crossing the room to take a seat next to Tweek. She brushed his hair out of his face with her hand and combed through it a little with her fingers. Normally Tweek would flinch away from most kinds of physical contact, but at the moment he was finding it kind of grounding so he let her continue to fuss over the wild nest of blond that he called hair.

"I'm sorry you don't get to see your friends," Mrs. Tweak said after a while, her tone consoling and a little regretful.

"It's ok," Tweek replied.

"You know your dad and I are just trying to keep you safe and do what's best for the family, right?" his mom questioned.

"I know," Tweek responded, offering her a reassuring smile.

He realised that the short answers were probably making his mother think that he was annoyed at her, but he couldn't bring himself to add more to the conversation. He was too busy trying not to dwell on the small shred of guilt that was nagging at him. That little voice that told him he'd betrayed his parent's trust by talking to Kenny after they said no, that he'd put them in danger by assuming it would be ok to let someone in on his secret, that he was selfish for wanting to talk to people again when he knew how risky it was. He didn't want to have to listen to it right now.

His mom exhaled deeply, the concern still evident on her face as she stood up to leave the room. She hesitated in the doorway. "Maybe, you could invite your friends here one day," she offered. "Your dad and I will have to have a talk about letting you inviting one or two people over. It would probably be alright to give that a try... as long as it's people we feel like we can trust."

"Yeah maybe," he answered, ignoring the doubts he had about that actually happening.

With that his mother left the room, closing his door a little behind her. She'd probably realised that she wasn't going to get much out of him and decided not to push the matter. Tweek slowly stood from his bed, going through the motions of preparing for sleep, but still not quite registering everything. He got like this sometimes after using his abilities. When your mind can create and send you to such realistic looking settings the lines of reality start to feel a bit blurry and confusing at time. Sometimes it made him feel a little like he was on autopilot and anything outside of his routine was difficult for him to process.

He found his mind racing that night as he stared at the ceiling waiting for sleep to find him. Today's events had been a lot to take in, but at least now he was beginning to feel something that he thought he'd forgotten how to feel a long time ago.

He felt hopeful.

* * *

 **Author's note:** I edited this one so many times. I'm not sure if it's as good as the others. I feel a little bit like that sometimes when it comes to posting things though so it might be alright.


	4. Chapter 4

**Note:** This is a bit of a short chapter compared to the others, but I didn't want too much going on at once. The next one will definitely be longer.

* * *

Tweek had never experienced a dream like this one before. In fact, he was starting to doubt that it was a dream, but he could barely focus on anything over the pain of a splitting headache.

He had been having a fairly decent night's sleep for a change, relieved in the knowledge that Kenny had received his message and was fixing the situation with the mayor. Then all of a sudden he was running as fast as his feet would carry him through the dark, quiet streets of South Park.

It took all of five seconds for him to realise that he was no longer in his own subconscious, but as soon as he registered that he felt the crushing pressure of the headache from hell.

"Shit! Why now?" the person growled through gritted teeth, picking up their pace slightly.

They were beginning to leave the streets and buildings behind now, the light crunch of footsteps on snow just about audible through the pounding in his head as the glow of streetlamps slowly faded into the distance. Tweek was feeling increasingly anxious as the person ran further away from civilisation and their surroundings grew darker and more secluded. He had no idea what this person was running towards or from or if he even wanted to know, but he knew for certain that if they kept going there was a high probability of them ending up lost in the woods and getting hypothermia or attacked by a wild animal or worse.

Tweek wanted to help, he would have at least liked to have taken some of the tension away, but it was pretty clear by now that this person was awake. This was the second time he had ended up in the mind of a fully conscious person and he hoped this wasn't going to become a new thing for him to worry about. It seemed like all he could do when this happened was observe the choices the other person made and pray that he didn't end up witnessing anything too emotionally scarring. He had absolutely no control over his surroundings and he hated it. At least when he was stuck in his house he could still do stuff, but in this situation he was nothing but a useless spectator, a passenger in someone else's journey.

The person finally stopped running a little way into the trees, checking their surroundings briefly before falling to their knees and putting their head in their hands. The pain of the headache suddenly increased and Tweek heard a sharp inhale.

"Come on. This is can't be happening. This is not real."

The voice sounded vaguely familiar, but he couldn't place it, especially not the way it sounded at that moment: tinged with hurt, fear and vulnerability. As if in response, the pain became even more intense, forcing something similar to the sound of a wounded animal out of them. They pressed the heels of their palms to their eyes, repeating their words out loud as if it would make everything go away.

"This is not real. This is not real. This is not real," they whispered.

The pain was beginning to reach unbearable levels and Tweek could feel himself slipping away from this person's subconscious, but oddly enough he found himself desperately wanting to stay longer. He needed to know that this person was going to be ok.

Tweek's powers had made him feel emotions and sensations that weren't his own before, but it had never been as intense as it was the two times that he'd experienced being in someone's head while they were awake. He could still remember how cold and heavy the gun had felt in the kidnapper's hand the day before and the guilt and fear induced reluctance that had been lurking behind his threats.

This time it was the same. He could feel the biting cold of the night air surrounding them. He could feel the uncomfortable sensation of water seeping through the knees of the person's trousers where they were kneeling in the snow. He could feel the raw fear that plagued them and their refusal to accept that something was happening to them. He could feel them desperately trying to fight back against whatever the source of the headache was and whatever was about to happen.

For Tweek this was worse than being in the most terrifying of nightmares because this was real. There was no waking up from it and moving on for the other person. They were actually experiencing this pain and as far as they were aware they were going through it all alone. Tweek wanted to help them more than anything, he didn't want anyone to have to feel like this.

Tweek was trying his best to hold on to his connection with this person, but he'd never done that before and he wasn't exactly sure how to. Usually, he spent most of his time and energy trying to get his abilities to switch off, but right now he felt compelled to stick around and see what was going to happen. Was this person going to be alright? Were they dying? He hoped to any force out there in the universe that was willing to listen that this person wasn't dying.

He continued to fight that all too familiar pulling sensation, trying his best to find something he could concentrate on that would keep him present. The pain was too much for him though and he knew he wouldn't be able to hang on much longer.

A sudden jolt of agonising heat burned through the person's eyes, as if someone had just stabbed them with a white hot poker and Tweek wasn't sure if the scream he heard belonged to the other person or him. He didn't have any time to figure it out though because the next thing he knew, he was sitting bolt upright in his own room, breathing heavily and clutching his blankets in a death grip.

Tweek slowly let go of the blankets and rested his head in his palms as he tried to calm his breathing. His posture stiffened slightly when he felt something wet on his cheeks and pulled his hands away to inspect them. He couldn't stop himself from trembling as he stared down at the shiny trail of liquid smudged across his palm. He'd been crying.

"W-what the f-fuck?" he whispered into the darkness of his empty room.

* * *

 **Note:** I've been thinking about this fic a lot because it's my favourite one to plan. I'm thinking the chapters probably won't all be as long as the first few from now on because I want to be able to update as often as I can when I start doing university work again. I can see this ending up being a pretty long fic though to be honest because I have a lot planned for it.


	5. Chapter 5

**Note:** I'm just as surprised as you probably are about how quick I posted this update. I probably won't have as much free time soon so the updates won't always be this regular, but I enjoy writing this story a lot and I'm always excited to share it.

I hope you enjoy this chapter!

* * *

At some point in the night the exhaustion had eventually gotten to Tweek and he had fallen asleep again. Thankfully there were no further disturbances that night.

He felt completely exhausted as he pulled himself out of his protective cocoon of blankets and briefly contemplated doing nothing. That thought didn't last much longer though as he suddenly heard something move.

"Nice PJs," a voice teased and Tweek swore his heart stopped beating for a second.

He yelped loudly and quickly scrambled out of his blankets, narrowly avoiding falling flat on his butt. He backed up against the wall opposite, holding clenched fists up in front of him, breathing like he'd just ran a marathon and staring at the orange clad figure on his bed in bewilderment.

"Jesus christ, Kenny! Y-you almost gave me a heart attack! I thought was about to have to fight someone for my life!"

"Well, that's not the usual reaction I get from people, but I'm glad to see you've finally decided to wake up," Kenny grinned.

Kenny was perched on Tweek's bed like he hung out there all the time, like he'd just strolled in and made himself at home while Tweek slept. Tweek wasn't quite sure what to make of it. How long had he been there? Had he been watching Tweek sleep? If it was that easy for Kenny to get in without him noticing, how easy would it be for someone who wanted to hurt him?

Tweek decided that he would have to look into making his room more secure later.

Sensing that he wasn't going to get a reply, Kenny decided to continue his side of the conversation. "Do you always sleep on the floor?"

Tweek narrowed his eyes at the other boy.

"What are you doing here?"

Kenny smirked. "Dude, you can't answer a question with a question. That's not how it works."

Tweek hesitated, staring at Kenny for a few seconds, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth. He let out a small sigh when he realised Kenny wasn't going to answer until he did.

"Yeah," he confirmed. "I always sleep on the floor."

"Why?" Kenny asked.

Tweek shrugged. "It eliminates the possibility of someone hiding under my bed."

Tweek felt weird voicing some of his slightly less rational fears to someone who wasn't Craig, especially since the usual response he got from other people was that he was being ridiculous and paranoid. He kind of expected Kenny to laugh at him or tell him that he was weird. Kenny didn't seem to be afraid of anything, he didn't really take any possible dangers into account when he lept into action. Tweek was afraid of everything and saw the potential for disaster in every situation.

Sometimes he wished he could be more like the boy in front of him.

"You should move your mattress to the floor too," Kenny mused, breaking Tweek out of his thoughts. "You're gonna fuck up your back if you keep sleeping like that and then what good would you be against an intruder?"

Tweek stared at him in surprise. All traces of humour were absent from Kenny's expression. He wasn't making fun of Tweeks weird habits and thought processes. Instead, he was talking to him like his fears were real and justified and trying to make things easier for him. The only other person who'd ever done that for him was Craig and Tweek didn't want to think about that right now, so he quickly changed the subject.

"Y-you still haven't answered my question," he reminded him. "What are you doing here?"

"I told you I'd see ya tomorrow," Kenny answered, his grin back in place. "Besides, I had to check if what happened yesterday was real or if I had accidentally eaten some shitty expired food again or something."

"How did you get in here though?!" Tweek questioned, tugging on a stray strand of hair. "My parents would never have let you in!"

"A magician never reveals his secrets, Tweek," Kenny smirked.

Tweek threw his hands up in exasperation. "Take this seriously, dammit!"

Kenny's expression still revealed nothing.

 _'I wonder how long it will take him to notice that his window is open.'_

Tweek's gaze flitted to the open window and he briefly wondered how he hadn't noticed the draught before fixing Kenny with a pointed look.

Kenny picked up on the subtle movement and frowned. "Dude, did you just read my mind?" he accused, "That's fucking cheating!"

The corner of Tweek's mouth twitched into a smile. "A magician never reveals his secrets, Kenny."

"Damn. My own taunt used against me." Kenny said, placing his hand against his chest, "I feel betrayed, honestly."

Tweek shook his head. "So overdramatic," he mumbled, turning away to start looking through the post it notes on his desk. There wasn't anything urgent he needed to do, there never really was, but it distracted him from how weird he felt about having another person who wasn't one of his parents in his house. It also allowed him to hide the fact that he couldn't help smiling at Kenny's antics.

" _I'm_ overdramatic?" Kenny questioned, his tone saturated with disbelief. Tweek's grin widened ever so slightly. "I may be overdramatic, but I managed to save the mayor and have a conversation with the most difficult person in South Park and probably even America to get in touch with all before lunch," Kenny argued, "so I think I'm allowed to be a bit enthusiastic right now."

Tweek was about to roll his eyes at the comment about him being hard to reach, when the first part of what Kenny said suddenly registered. He perked up at that and stopped what he was doing to face the other boy. "You saved the mayor?! She's alive?!" he asked, almost too aware that he sounded just a tiny bit frantic.

He supposed that was reasonable after witnessing a person threatening to blow someone's brains out though.

"Yep," Kenny nodded.

Tweek breathed a sigh of relief.

"I found her exactly where you said she would be and delivered her safely to the police station this morning," Kenny reported.

"So it's all over now! That's great!" Tweek replied.

Kenny didn't seem as enthusiastic though, in fact he looked kind of guilty. Tweek's enthusiasm quickly died down the more Kenny started to looked like he was about to say something Tweek really wouldn't like.

Kenny looked down at his slightly worn shoes before letting out a defeated sigh. A spike of anxiety pierced through Tweek's chest when a thought interrupted the silence.

 _'He's really not gonna like this…'_

Kenny took a breath and met Tweek's gaze with a slightly less casual and carefree expression than he usually wore. Tweek didn't know if he was ready to hear any more stressful news though. He'd had enough of that already to last a lifetime.

"Yeah about that-"

"Wait!" Tweek blurted before Kenny could go any further. Kenny seemed a bit confused by the outburst, but reluctantly complied.

Tweek knew that what Kenny had to say was important and it was going to come out eventually, but he just needed a few minutes to mentally prepare himself.

Everything felt like it was happening too fast, like his life had been on pause for the last few years and now suddenly someone had hit the play button again and he was going to have to struggle to keep up. He shut his eyes and took a deep breath, counting in his head as he breathed in and out. It was a trick he'd learned from his therapist when he was younger that didn't always calm him down that effectively, but at least sometimes prevented him from going into panic attack mode.

When he opened his eyes Kenny was still sat in silence, waiting for Tweek to give him the go ahead to continue.

"You ok, dude?" He asked cautiously.

"Y-yeah," Tweek replied, "as ok as I can be right now." He was surprised at how patient Kenny was being with him, but then he supposed Kenny had probably learned to be patient from having siblings to take care of. "What were you gonna tell me?"

"You sure you're ready to hear it?" Kenny checked.

"No," Tweek admitted, "but tell me anyway."

Kenny hesitated, considering how he should approach the subject before seemingly just deciding to go for it. "I'm gonna need your help," he stated.

"My help?" Tweek questioned. "Why? Oh God, did something go wrong?!"

"No, it actually all went pretty smooth compared to most of the crimes I deal with," Kenny assured him. "Mainly because I had information from you and I knew what I was walking into." He let out a loud sigh of resignation. "Look, I wouldn't ask you to do this if our police department wasn't completely full of incompetent dickheads, but it is so here I am. The Mayor was able to identify her kidnapper and he's in custody, but I just can't help feeling like there's more to this and nobody is giving any answers. I was wondering if you could come with me to the station and do some mind reading."

A tight knot began to form in Tweek's chest, weighing him down and constricting his breathing. "I… that's so much pressure! I don't think I can do that!" He exclaimed, his hands reaching up to latch onto his hair as he started to feel the all too familiar rush of panic. "My parents don't want me to leave the house so I'd have to get there without anyone seeing me and the police will never listen to me because the adults in this town hate me and what if the guy realises that I'm reading his mind and getsangryandcomesafterme?!"

"Tweek! Tweek, it's ok!" Kenny exclaimed. He stood up and reached out to comfort the other boy, but stopped himself just as his hand was about to settle on Tweek's arm, realising that Tweek might not want to be touched when he's worked up like this. "It's ok. It's cool. You don't have to do it if you don't want to," He reassured him, speaking softly to avoid stressing him out further.

Tweek felt some of the panic ease up as he searched Kenny's expression for any signs of disappointment or annoyance and found nothing but quiet concern. "R-really?" He asked tentatively, a small part of him still worrying that Kenny would think he was being selfish.

"Yeah, dude. I'm not gonna force you to do something that you're uncomfortable with. I'm not an asshole." Kenny pointed out, offering a reassuring smile. "Just for the record though: if you were to do it I could make sure that you were in and out of that building without your parents ever finding out and the criminal never even has to see your face. You could stand behind two way glass and I'd be the one in the room with him if you wanted to. Also, the adults in this town are not good people and most of them don't know shit so don't take their opinions about you too seriously. I think you're way better than them and I think you can do this. I wouldn't have asked you if I didn't."

Tweek stared at his hands and picked at his fingers nervously. He wanted to help, but the idea of going to the police station and talking to all of those people behind his parents' backs felt like so much after years of hiding away in his house and doing everything that they told him would keep him safe. The outside world seemed too big and open and unpredictable compared to the small, comfortable space he'd been restricted to and he wasn't sure if he could cope with feeling that exposed and vulnerable. Not to mention he still didn't have full control of his abilities and he could get in serious trouble for wasting police time if he couldn't do anything.

He didn't know what to do and he was about to tell Kenny as much, but before he could, the other boy spoke up again.

"To be honest Tweek, I think you're capable of more than you think."

Tweek immediately looked up, his eyes wide as he stared at Kenny in surprise. Those were the exact same words Craig had used when he had asked Tweek to stage a break up with him when they were kids. They still stuck with him to this day and despite the rational part of his brain telling him that it was just a coincidence, he couldn't help feeling like maybe it meant something, maybe it meant he should trust Kenny.

If nothing else, the words still had a positive impact on him, like somewhere a switched had been pressed and he suddenly felt like maybe he could actually make a difference. Still, there was a lot more at stake in this situation than just a few people's reputations.

Tweek was about to ask for some more time to think about everything, but this time he was interrupted by the metallic, ringing slam of the letter box echoing from downstairs. He jumped a little at the unexpected noise, but then he registered what it was. He glanced at the door before looking back at Kenny and the other boy must have noticed his conflicted expression.

"You can go get that if you want," Kenny said, "I'm not going anywhere."

Tweek nodded at him in acknowledgement and swiftly left the room. He knew it would be from Craig, they hardly ever got mail from anybody else and that thought had him picking up his pace a little. The extra sense of comfort that came with receiving one of Craig's pictures was more than welcome with the morning that Tweek was having so far and he probably would have run down the stairs to get to it if he wasn't so aware of how easy it would be to trip and fall.

The picture was lying face up on the carpet when he reached the front door and he failed to hold back a smile when he saw that it was a picture of Craig's guinea pig. Craig still loved them as much as he did when they were younger by the seems of it. Some things never changed and Tweek definitely appreciated that.

He bent down to pick up the picture, but as his fingers caught hold of it and he stood back up, flickers of a memory started playing in his head.

 _He could see the pet shuffling around in its cage as clear as day, high pitched squeaking noises emitting from it as footsteps approached._

 _"Shhh" a voice soothed. Tweek couldn't see the person, but he recognised Craig's voice as soon as he started talking. "I'll feed you in a second, I promise. I just need to take a picture of you for Tweek, ok?"_

 _The guinea pig refused to stay still and Craig let out an irritated huff. "You'll never make it in the modelling industry like that, Stripe," he criticised. Of course Craig spoke to his pet guinea pig like it was human. "Come on, just stay still for one second. Tweek hasn't seen you in forever. I bet he'd be happy to know you're still alive."_

 _Tweek heard the click of a camera shutter and Craig mumbling something about his guinea pig being a diva before sighing loudly when it started making squeaking noises again._

 _"I don't know why Tweek hasn't been to visit." He said, as if he was having a conversation with the animal. "I think he has a lot going on. We'll see him again one day though, buddy. We just have to be patient and give him some time. He's smart and brave and he's gonna figure a way out of whatever it is he's dealing with. I know it."_

"Tweek?" Kenny's voice interrupted, snapping Tweek out of it.

Tweek whipped around to face the other boy, noting that he was still in his living room and still holding the picture that had triggered the vision. Kenny, who must have gotten fed up of waiting and gone looking for him, was standing at the bottom of the stairs with a slightly apprehensive look on his face.

"You were all zoned out," Kenny explained. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just saw something when I touched the picture," Tweek explained, relieved that he could at least be honest with Kenny about things to do with his abilities. "It wasn't anything important though."

"Are you sure?" Kenny asked. "Because you look like you're about to cry or something. Do you want me to leave?"

"No, It's fine I swear!" Tweek protested, rubbing his eyes with his sleeve self consciously to find that he had in fact been tearing up. "I just wasn't expecting it that's all."

It had been so long since Tweek had heard Craig's voice and he hadn't expected it to make him feel so emotional considering that he knew the boy was still trying to communicate with him. Hearing that Craig wasn't going to give up on Tweek made it feel so much more real and permanent though. Craig seemed so confident in the idea that Tweek could do whatever he put his mind to. Even Kenny seemed to think that Tweek was underestimating himself. Maybe Tweek should at least try to believe it too.

"Hey, Kenny?" Tweek said, grabbing the other boy's attention.

"Yeah?" Kenny asked, still looking a little unsure if he should stay or go.

"I wanna help with the investigation," Tweek stated. "I'll go with you."

Kenny's face lit up. "Really?" He asked. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure," Tweek replied, not giving himself a chance to second guess it.

"Ok! Awesome! Cool! That's great!" Kenny replied enthusiastically. He obviously hadn't been expecting this turn of events, but he seemed infectiously ecstatic about it, which put Tweek at ease a little bit. "I need to go talk to the guys at the station to set things up, but I'll be back to sneak you out. It'll probably be tomorrow though because they take forever to do anything there. Do you have a phone?"

"Yeah, but I don't really use it," Tweek shrugged, crossing the room to dig through a pile of papers he'd left on the table for the cell phone his parents gave him 'in case of emergencies', which he now knew actually meant 'in case there's a business call we want you to answer for us'. He rescued it from the bottom of the pile and handed it to Kenny.

"Well, now you do," Kenny insisted, typing his number into it and sending a quick text to his phone to save Tweek's number. "I'll call you if anything changes, but it probably won't. Like I said most of them are incompetent dickheads and they usually take forever to get things done." He handed the phone back to Tweek. "If you ever need anything and get tired of overworking that brain of yours so much though, just call me or text me, even if it's fucking 3 am or something. I usually don't get much sleep anyway so you wouldn't be bothering me."

Tweek stared down at the number on his screen, noting that Kenny had saved it under 'Mysterion' instead of his actual name. He briefly wondered if Kenny knew about his fear of people finding out what he could do and hurting anyone who associated with him and used a name people couldn't put a face to. Then he reminded himself that Kenny wasn't the mind reader here and that it must have just been a preference.

"Um… Ok," he finally answered when he realised Kenny was waiting for a response.

"Cool, I'll see ya later then," Kenny stated, heading towards the door. He paused before fully stepping outside and turned back to look at Tweek. "Thanks for this, Tweek. You're really helping me out here," he added with a grateful smile before heading out and pulling the door shut behind him.

Tweek stared at the closed door for a few moments afterwards hoping he wasn't about to regret his decision.

* * *

 **Note:** How many times can I mention Craig before he even physically shows up in this story? That's the real question here. Also, it's so difficult to write Kenny because I have to keep going back and reading his lines in my head to try and figure out if it sounds ok or if it sounds like something he'd never say. Then again he wrote that really posh sounding letter in the Going Native episode so tbh I feel like Kenny just changes how he talks depending on what he's doing or how he feels.

By the way, just as a sidenote, Craig doesn't have an ability that allows him to talk to animals. He's just a nerd who has conversations with his guinea pig when no one else is around.


End file.
